Before someone would notice it, Noah closed the door of his room and dragged the deceased butler to one of his closests. He closed the cupboard. He washed the blood off his hand with water in the bathtub. He then stepped out of the room with his coat in his hand, locking the door of his room so that no one would enter and find the butler's body.
As he walked, he unrolled his sleeves back to the way it was earlier and made his way through the corridors and the stairs.
Once he reached the ground floor, he noticed his father had just arrived from outside. His father stood with his mother, who was talking to Anaya.
Jeffrey Sullivan turned his head. Noticing his son, he asked, "Going to the Council already?"
Noah offered a slight bow to his parents and replied, "Yes, I need to submit some of the documents to Clayton. He is expecting them by this evening."
"If you are going there, I need you to hand a document to the inner councilman, Mr. Hart," his father said, "Hold on, let me bring it," saying he left the place.
"Who had come to the mansion earlier?" Lady Hilda asked Anaya with a curious look.
"It was the lady from the Moriarty family, Lady Hilda. She came here to take the dress that I had promised to make this week for her," Anaya replied without revealing that it was Eve, who had earlier visited.
"Oh!" Lady Hilda raised her eyebrows and remarked, "It must have been the elder daughter of the Viscount. She did come here to talk to you last time, didn't she?"
Anaya only nodded. It was because Marceline Moriarty had come to meet her in Sullivan's mansion.
Lady Hilda said, "You know, yesterday I met the Hookes at Hollow Valley. The marchioness looked very excited about the coming wedding and it seemed like she wasn't done shopping even after that many bags in her servant's hands."
Noah turned and looked at Anaya, who continued nodding at what his mother was saying. It seemed to him that the Hookes were still under the impression that their daughter was going to get married to Vincent, while the pureblooded vampire sent invitations about his and Eve's wedding without their knowledge.
"Well anyways. I need to find where our butler went, he was supposed to send a package to the Bishop's family. Anaya dear, come to my room later, I have something to give you. I will leave you two alone," Lady Hilda smiled, and walked away from there, back to her room.
When Lady Hilda was out of sight, Anaya whispered to Noah, "I took away the letter that was written for your family by Mr. Moriarty." She pulled out the envelope and handed it directly into Noah's hand. "This one is for you."
Noah took it, staring at the envelope before a small smile appeared on his lips and he said, "Thank you, Lady Anaya."
"You are welcome," Anaya responded, and she saw him stare into her eyes.
Soon afterwards, Noah's father returned with an envelope and said, "Don't forget to give this to Mr. Hart, Noah."
Anaya who quietly stood there, her eyes fell on the Duke's sleeve, which had a bright red spot. It looked like blood…
"Yes, father," Noah bowed again and offered a polite smile, saying, "I shall go now," and walked away from there.
Anaya wondered where Noah received that stain from. Because when he had earlier entered the room, she hadn't noticed it.
Hours passed and night arrived, where the streets turned deserted as everyone had quickly taken shelter in their houses. Lanterns burned outside and inside the houses, the fireplaces glowing brightly in the wealthy families houses, while in the houses of the poor, the logs of wood had already exhausted, and they took shelter and warmth in their ragged blankets.
In Sullivan's mansion, Lady Hilda sat at the dining table and questioned, "Is it just me or have you all not seen the butler since noon?"
James, who sat across from her at the table, responded, "Now that you brought it up, I don't think I have seen him. How strange." He then turned to look at one of the maids, raising his hand and questioned, "Where is he?"
The maid bowed and answered in a meek voice, "I don't know, Sire…"
"You don't know where he is? Who has been giving you work?" Lady Hilda didn't look impressed by the maid's answer and turned to her husband, "Did you send him somewhere or did he tell you where he was going?"
Noah decided to answer, "He said he was going to the market," while Anaya sat next to him.
"Oh, so he did inform, before he went out. But how long is the trip to the market?" Lady Hilda questioned with a frown. "He should have been back by now."
Noah's features barely ruffled and replied, "He said he was going on the mansion's errand and I thought it was the usual work. Though I did find it strange that he didn't take any carriage or servant along with him."
"That's very unlike him," Lady Hilda pursed her lips before turning to look at her husband and saying in a worried tone, "We should search for him."
"It has been only a few hours, Hilda. Let us wait till later and then look for him. I will put in a word to the town's magistrate so that he can let us know if he's truly gone missing," Noah's father assured his mother, who nodded.
Anaya's mother, Mrs. Madge Chambers, who had joined the Sullivans at the table, said, "Let us hope and pray the butler is fine. It is hard to find a decent servant, who can manage so many servants and know how to operate the insides of the mansion smoothly."
"That is true. He has been an asset to the Sullivans family," James replied before everyone continued to have their supper.
And while everyone was busy having their meals, Anaya silently chewed her food carefully, while her eyes moved to the corner to stare at Noah. When everyone finished eating and left the dining room to return to their rooms, while some moved to the drawing room, Anaya followed Noah to his room with a distance between them.
Noah stopped midway and turned to meet her eyes. He asked her, "Did you want to say something, Lady Anaya?"
Anaya's footsteps had slowed down, cautiously looking at the Duke whom she had admired. She made her way towards where he stood, while the candles in the corridors continued to burn and emit enough light to keep the place bright.
She asked, "Did something happen to the butler?"
Noah cooly watched Anaya's curious expression and asked, "Why do you ask that?"
"Nobody has seen him since you arrived this afternoon…"
A small smile appeared on his lips, and Anaya noticed how cold it appeared. A rare glimmer of an expression that she had never seen before.
Before Noah could deny it, her eyes looked at his shirt sleeve, where the drop of blood had darkened. She said, "That's his blood, isn't it?"
The slight smile on Noah's lips didn't fade. He stated, "You should get back to your room and get some sleep. You don't want to be caught in something you cannot get out. Goodnight, Anaya."
Five hours passed, and everyone in Sullivan's mansion was fast asleep, including the servants. Noah had carried the deceased butler's body from his room and, with his coachman, Kieran's help put the body in the carriage before driving it away from the mansion.
They disposed of it in a way where no one would ever come to find the deceased butler's body.
Noah watched Kieran return after burying the body, his eyes cold and expressionless.
"Sire, it is done," informed the coachman, but when the Duke didn't respond, he called, "Sire?"
Noah's eyes shifted to the coachman. He said, "Let us get back to the mansion." Turning around, he climbed inside the carriage.
It was getting hard to balance his love for his family, the blood in his veins, and the love he had for the woman to protect her. As the carriage started to move, Noah stared out the window.
When the carriage reached the mansion, his coachman went to park the vehicle, while he entered the mansion. His mother was awake, walking in the hallways with a shawl wrapped around her body. He asked her,
"Haven't you slept yet, mother?"
"I don't know why, but I couldn't. I thought I would take a walk in the mansion to tire myself. Where were you?" Lady Hilda asked. "Did you find anything about the butler?"
Noah softly sighed, "I went to see if I could find him. But I couldn't."
Lady Hilda exhaled in exasperation and muttered, "Where could he have gone? I will get back to bed, you rest too, Noah," she placed her hand on the side of his face before kissing his forehead and leaving for her room.
As Noah started to head towards his room, one of the servants walked quickly towards him and said, "Duke Noah, this came for you three hours ago. It was told to hand it to you."
Noah took the envelope and walked to his room. Once he stepped inside his room, he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it in the water. The envelope had no name, and he opened it. As he read the letter, the werewolf's eyes hardened. He crumpled the paper, throwing it in the burning fireplace.
